Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Guest Post + Giveaway: Jeane Westin

I am sure everyone here will agree that there is nothing worse than a month full of exams - well, at least it's in the top 10. This is how it's been for me lately, and I'm very sorry I had to hit the pause button with the blog lately.

Today, I hope to make up for this by introducing historical fiction author Jeane Westin to the blog, who has prepared a guest post concerning her book His Last Letter. Please give a warm welcome for Jeane!

Hello Nikola, I'm so happy to hear from you and know you have an interest in England's Queen Elizabeth I and my book His Last Letter:Elizabeth I and the Earl of Leicester. The book is a novel about Elizabeth's lifelong love, Robert Dudley as I imagined it. Their story started when they were children of eight years and continued until her death nearly 70 year later. Although she was called, and called herself, the Virgin Queen, their long, romantic relationship raise doubts and I decided to imagine that theirs had been more than a deep friendship, although it was always that.

They were playmates first, impetuous companions as adults and the center of each others' lives for decades. Astute to the dangers of choosing any one man, the Virgin Queen could never give Dudley what he wanted most, to be her husband and England's king, she insisted that he stay close by her side. Possessive and jealous, they survived quarrels, his two disastrous marriages to other women, her constant flirtations and political machinations with foreign princes. Yet still, there is no written evidence that confirms the depth of the love between Elizabeth and her "sweet Robin".

But was there such evidence? At the moment of her greatest victory over the Spanish Armada, Elizabeth receives news of Robin's death along with his last letter to her. Elizabeth kept one page of that letter inscribed in her hand His Last Letter in a locked treasures box by her side until the day she died and that page survives in the UK files to this day.

His Last Letter asks: what if there were a second page to Robin's passionate missive, a page confirming the passionate love affair Elizabeth and Robin engaged in for decades, and a page that the Queen had to destroy?

Upon receiving the letter and overcome with grief, the Queen locks herself in her rooms for three long days, refuses all food, water and comfort and lets Robin's letter transport her back to their last years together, the most dangerous of her rule, as well as to the most passionate moments of their affair. Elizabeth loved Robin until her very last breath, but as queen she loved the throne and her independence more...and that love ultimately forces her to burn the second page of sweet Robin's missive, breaking her woman's heart for good.

Doesn't that sound intriguing? And, since Jeane rules, she has offered two copies of her book to two lucky winners! Here are the giveaway rules: